


Peter Sick In Avengers Tower

by disfanatic10



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Appendicitis, Hurt/Comfort, Irondad/spiderson - Freeform, Medical Doctor Bruce Banner, Sick Peter Parker, Sickfic, Spider-Man - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21704704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disfanatic10/pseuds/disfanatic10
Summary: When Peter is staying overnight at the compound, he gets horribly sick but tries to hide it because he doesn’t want to seem weak. Cue protective Irondad making sure Peter is going to be okay, Bruce reassuring Peter in his calm way, and Doctor Strange making sure everything goes okay. Combine that that with May being a worried aunt (who may or may not know Peter is Spider-Man) and it makes one hurt/comfort fic.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Bruce Banner, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 106





	Peter Sick In Avengers Tower

**Author's Note:**

> So this story was originally posted on my Wattpad (same username: disfanatic 10) but I thought I would post it here too. If anyone has situations they would like to see please let me know. I try to keep the stories somewhat consistent, but they don’t necessarily have to be (I.e like I normally write Pepperony, but I’d be happy to write IronStrange or Stony, for example). Hope you enjoy!

Peter looked at his watch. "Uh, Mr. Stark? It's like midnight already. May's gonna be freaking out. I need to leave, like now." 

Tony looked up from the workbench, where one of his droids was dissembled. "It's fine, I already called your aunt and told her we'd be working late. You can sleep here tonight. Are you tired now?" 

"No," Peter lied, but even as he said it a huge yawn escaped. "Maybe a little," he amended. 

Tony put the wrench down. "Alright, that's it. To bed with you. Take the elevator to the top floor, your room is the second one on the right."

"Wait, I have a room?" Peter was shocked. 

"Of course, kid! You're an Avenger. All the Avengers have one." 

Peter was speechless. Finally, he stammered out. "Wow, thanks, Mr. Stark." And without thinking, he launched himself across the lab and gave Tony a big hug. The billionaire didn't respond at first, and Peter started to draw back, knowing he had made a mistake. But then Tony gently wrapped his arms around Peter too. 

"No problem, kid. Now go to bed or you have to sleep in the basement." He ruffled the kid's curls teasingly. 

~slight time skip~ Peter laid on his bed in Avengers tower, still not fully believing it was actually his. Another yawn wracked his body, and he started to lie down, but then he jolted back up and pulled out his laptop. He had to disable FRIDAY from his room. He had been around the tower enough to know that FRIDAY monitored the sleep patterns and vitals of all the tower's occupants, and would notify Tony of anything out of the ordinary instantly. It would also notify Banner if anyone's heart rate or temperature got too high. Peter could not have anyone check on him. He had had terrible nightmares for years, and he didn't want to show any weakness to the team. They already believed him to be too small and young to fight completely, he couldn't give them any more reasons to take him off the team. No, FRIDAY's monitoring was not an option. Ten minutes later, he was good. Anyone accessing the feed to his room would see him sleeping soundly, or maybe stirring gently in the clutches of a normal dream. They would not hear his screams of terror or his racing heart. Those were for weak people, and the Avengers were not weak. Tony thought he was a real avenger, so he had to live up to their expectations. 

Eventually, Peter did fall asleep, and nightmares plagued him all night long. He jolted upright in a cold sweat, and then instantly fell back on to the bed, his nightmare forgotten for a real-life nightmare. His stomach was clenched tighter than a wind up toy. Every time he shifted even the tiniest bit, it felt like someone was twisting a knife in his gut. His breathing came faster, and he could feel the panic building. He had to do something, had to escape before someone came into his room. He dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom, where he collapsed against the toilet and puked his guts out. He heaved and heaved until nothing was left in his stomach. After that, he felt slightly better, at least enough to be able to stand up by himself. He went back into his bedroom, racking his brain for a way to get somewhere the Avengers couldn't find him. He couldn't take his suit, it was equipped with Karen and would let Mr. Stark know of his symptoms immediately. He looked around, the room, growing more desperate. He thought about just walking out of the compound, faking a smile the whole way, but he knew he would never be able to do it. If anyone saw him, he wouldn't be able to keep up the ruse. And then they would drag him to Bruce, and... he couldn't even imagine what would happen next. He wouldn't be allowed to be an avenger anymore, that's for sure, if he let something as simple as a stupid stomachache get the better of him. 

Finally, Peter saw the vent. Perfect. If he couldn't get out of the compound, he could at least go somewhere in the building where the Avengers would never find him. He grabbed his web shooters and climbed up the wall. He removed the vent and swung into the shaft, ignoring the stabs of pain every movement caused. Slowly, he crawled along, moving silently through the vents until he found a passage that wasn't directly accessible. Only then did he allow himself to collapse. He curled up in a tight ball, tears streaming down his face. It hurt. Oh god, it hurt so bad. 

~Tony's POV~ Tony walked downstairs and grabbed a cup of coffee, taking a deep whiff of the amazing scent of that heavenly beverage. He also smelled Steve's pancakes, and looked around, expecting to see Peter. The smell of food was like a beacon for him, but Peter wasn't sitting at the table. Tony looked at his watch. It was almost 8:30. Not early, but not too late for the kid to be sleeping in. Still, he was surprised that the smell hadn't called him straight from bed. He walked back upstairs and listened outside of Pete's door. He didn't hear anything, which was weird. He knocked. No response. He knocked again, and he still didn't hear anything. He grabbed the door handle. Locked. "Hey FRIDAY, unlock this door." 

"The door is unlocked, Boss." 

Tony tried it again. "No it isn't! Unlock the door FRIDAY! What the hell is wrong with you? Peter, you in there? Unlock this door right now!" Tony was starting to panic, he could just feel like the kid was in trouble. 

"Peter Parker is sleeping soundly, heart rate 72 bpm, temperature 98.6, temperature 98.6, temp, temp, T...." Tony looked up in alarm. FRIDAY seemed to be glitching out, repeating one word over and over again. "Peter Benjamin Parker, unlock this door right now or I'm breaking in!" There was still no response, and so Tony twisted the Iron Man bracelet. His suit closed around him seconds later, and he fired a repulsor at the door handle. He rammed his shoulder into the door and it opened. Peter wasn't in the room. Tony was full on panicking now as he swept the room. He wasn't anywhere in the room, or the bathroom. The bathroom did have small specks of something that looked like vomit on the floor, which did nothing to calm Tony's panic. Peter's laptop was still sitting on the table beside his bed, and Tony pulled it open, quickly bypassing the password. He swore when he saw what was pulled up. He put his head in his hands. "This fu***** kid hacked FRIDAY." Tony quickly erased Peter's work and brought FRIDAY fully online again. He knew Peter had to be still in the tower somewhere, and he couldn't have his suit with him. He stormed out of Peter's room into the living room, yelling commands at FRIDAY the whole time.

"Scan this building from top to bottom! Tell me where Peter is!" Steve heard the shouting and came out of the kitchen, followed by Bucky and Natasha. "Tony, what's going on?!" "It's Peter. I can't find him anywhere, he's not in his room, and he hacked FRIDAY so I couldn't track him." He was screaming, on the verge of a full blown panic attack. 

Steve knew what what happening and grabbed Tony's shoulders. "Calm down. He can't have gone far." 

Just then, FRIDAY piped up. "Boss, I have scanned the building and have found the spider-child." 

"Where is he?!" Tony pushed Steve off and stood up. "He is curled up the the vent system in between the fifteenth and sixteenth floors. He appears to be in great distress. His heart rate and breathing are incredibly elevated, as well as his temperature. He is suffering from intense abdominal pain."

"Get Bruce!" Tony screamed over his shoulder at Steve. He didn't even look able to see if he had complied, he was already shooting out a window and up the tower to the fifteenth floor. He fired a beam at a window on the fifteenth floor and stepped through. "Peter, where are you? I'm coming!" 

~Peter POV~ Peter heard the laser blast and flinched. He curled up tighter. He could hear Mr. Stark's yelling, and it was just making everything worse. His head hurt, his eyes hurt. Even the dim light from the vent was too much. His own breathing was too much. He let out a tiny whimper, praying that Mr. Stark hadn't heard it over his yelling. He couldn't be seen like this, he couldn't! He pressed a hand into his mouth and stifled another cry as the room below him went totally quiet. Peter forced himself to stay totally still, barely even breathing. And then suddenly he was being pulled backward, out of the vent. He shot upright, not even noticing the pain it caused him. He was still holding on to the vent's metal, but it was being pulled. Without warning, bright lights swept over him, and he felt himself falling, darkness taking over his vision. 

~Tony POV~ The kid fell in slow motion, tumbling off the piece of metal and through the air. Not even fully realizing what he was doing, Tony flew forwards, hands outstretched. The kid dropped right into his waiting arms and lay there, still as a board. He was pale and flushed. Tony adjusted his grip and walked faster, flying out the same hole he had made earlier. He flew into the basement of the tower and was walking quickly toward the medbay when Peter woke up, thrashing. "Shh, it's alright," He whispered, stroking the brown curls. "We're almost to the medbay now." 

~Peter POV~ Peter came to again and felt arms against him. Instantly he began to panic, but stopped when he realized it was Mr. Stark. He met his mentor's eyes, and his mentor ran his hand gently through his curls, calming Peter until he started talking. When Peter heard the word medbay, however, he shot out of Tony's arms instantly. He landed on the ceiling, his sticky hands and feet grasping for purchase. "Don't take me there, please. I'm fine, I swear. I think I just have a stomachache. Please." 

He was begging now, tears pooling in his eyes. He blinked hard to keep them from spilling out. He tried to school his face into a neutral expression, but just then, another wave of pain hit. He couldn't stop the hiss of pain from coming out. 

"You're clearly not okay!" Tony looked up at the kid on the ceiling. "You need to have Bruce look at you."

"No. I. Don't." Peter gritted his teeth and spat the words out, even as the pain kept growing. 

By this time, Bruce had heard the commotion and had come out if the medbay. "Please, Peter," He said calmly. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I just need to examine your stomach really fast. Can I do that, please?" 

Peter shook his head. "Pete, he has to, okay? I asked him to. You don't want to disappoint me, do you?" Tony said. 

At this, the tears did start streaming out. "No, I don't, Mr. Stark. That's why I need to be strong. You would never let something like a stomachache stop you." Gasps punctuated his sentences.

~Tony POV~ Tony was dumbstruck. This was all his fault. The kid hadn't told him because he wanted to be like Tony, he wanted to be strong like Tony only pretended to be. "No, kid, no." Tears had welled up in his eyes too. "It's perfectly alright to get sick. It happens to me all the time. I have horrible panic attacks, and I've learned that the best way to be strong is to have other people help me." 

"Really...?" Peter asked in a small voice. 

"Yes, really. So you need to be strong too, okay? And come down and let Bruce and I help you." 

"Alright. Okay." Peter was still crying, but he let himself slip down the wall into Tony's waiting arms. Looking down at the frail kid, 

Tony was moved. "You're gonna be alright, kid." 

~Peter POV~ Peter shut his eyes tightly as Tony laid him on the bed. He clenched his fists, hard enough to draw blood as his fingernails pushed against the palm of his hand. He hated doctors, hated being touched and poked and prodded. He felt his shirt being lifted and Dr. Banner's gentle fingers press into his skin, and he whimpered softly. Instantly, Tony was there, uncurling Peter's hands from digging into his own skin and taking his fingers in his own. "It's alright, Pete. You're gonna get through this." 

"Breathe, Pete." This was Bruce. "You're doing great. If it hurts when I press on it, let me know." 

"Okay," he whispered, barely audible. Tony's hand stroked his, and Tony was also stoking his curls gently with his other hand, grounding him slightly. 

"Just pay attention to me. Try to breathe in time with me, okay?" Tony asked, taking slow, deep breaths. Peter focused on him, and slowly his breathing evened. He sucked in two deep breaths before it hitched again as Bruce touched his lower right side. 

"Ow," he gasped. "Oh, that hurt. Stop, please," he choked out as Bruce pressed down in the same spot even harder. "Does it hurt here?" Bruce asked, moving his fingers down slightly. "Ye-es." Peter gasped. Just that small touch had sent pain shooting through his body. The fingers were removed, and Peter welcomed the brief respite. But instantly, it was even worse, as the fingers were replaced with a cold metal disk. 

"Breathe in, Pete." Peter managed a gasp, which caused the stethoscope to press even harder into his stomach and made the pain worse. This was repeated a few more times, and each movement sent new tears rolling down Peter's face. After the fourth time, the stethoscope was removed and it didn't come back down again. 

Slowly, Peter opened his eyes. "Are you done?" He asked quietly. 

Bruce turned from the counter and sat down gently on the bed next to Peter. "You have appendicitis, I'm afraid." 

Peter hunched his shoulders, making him appear even smaller. "Am I going to have to get surgery?" He asked timidly, but already knowing and dreading the answer. 

"I'm afraid so. I'm going to put you through a quick scan to make sure your appendix hasn't burst yet, and then you're going to need surgery." Peter shook his head. He pushed Tony's hands away and curled up in a ball, pulling his knees to his chest. "No, please. I don't wanna go." 

"Pete..." Tony started, but he stopped as he looked at the crying kid. 

"Hey, look at me," Bruce touched Peter's back gently. Peter flinched, even at that gentle contact. "It's necessary to help you get better. Once you heal, you can go back to being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. You'd like that, right?" Peter managed to nod. "And because of your healing factor and super-strength, it won't even take as long for you to heal. For most people, they'd be banned from physical activity for six weeks, for you it'll probably only take about three."

Peter groaned at that. Even three weeks without being Spider-Man would be torture. But still, it was better than the alternative. Peter slowly uncurled himself, only to see Bruce leaning over him with a needle. He didn't even stop to think, he threw his arm up. It smacked into Bruce, who went flying across the room. Peter pushed Tony aside too, and ran blindly away. Suddenly he was stopped in his tracks by strong arms.

"What's going on? Peter, why are you running?" 

Peter looked up, and through his tears he saw the stern face of Dr. Strange above him. With a sinking heart, he saw Strange look out and survey the situation. Strange’s look changed from one of annoyance to concern. "Oh, Peter, I'm sorry." And then Peter felt a prick in his neck as the world went dark. 

~Strange’s POV~ "We've got to restrain him." Strange said as Peter's body collapsed into his arms. "If he wakes up and lashes out again, it could hurt someone else." Strange laid Peter back on the bed and stuck his hand out to pull Bruce up. "You okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm more worried about the kid. I thought we had him calmed down, but I walked over to him and he freaked out. I was about to take his arm so I could inject the contrast material and the sedative for the CT scan."

"Needle phobia?" 

"Most likely. It's the only thing that explains his sudden panic. I should of thought about that before approaching him. He was already pretty unstable." Bruce ran a hand through his hair, a worried expression on his face.

"You couldn't have known, but from the looks of it, it's a good thing I got here when I did." They both looked at the tiny kid in the bed. Who knew someone so little could be so strong?

"I'm glad you did. Let's go get that scan. The sooner we get this over with, the better for everyone." Strange rummaged in a drawer and pulled out the metal straps. Tony protested when they walked toward the bed. 

"You can't strap him down, he's just a kid!" Tony moved slightly in front of Peter. 

"He's a kid with super strength and an extreme needle phobia. Unless you want to get rag doll tossed into a wall again, I would suggest you let us tie him down. He needs the scan and the surgery, and I'm not sure how long the sedative will keep him asleep thanks to his powers." Strange used his no-nonsense doctor tone, and reluctantly, Tony stepped aside. He couldn't bear to see the kid tied down like an animal and strapped to machines, so he left the lab, leaving Bruce and Strange to talk about all the medical stuff. Tony didn't get very far before Steve, Nat, and Bucky met him. 

"How's the kid?" Bucky asked. 

"He has appendicitis. Bruce called Stephen in and they're gonna scan him and then rush him into emergency surgery." Even as he said the words, Tony felt their weight press down on him. It had snuck up on him, just how much he cared for the kid. He hated seeing the teenager, who was normally a ball of sunshine and rainbows, so scared and feeble. He couldn't bear it if anything happened to him. Peter was the best of them all. And if anything happened to him on his watch, well, May would kill him. Tony knew he needed to call her, but he couldn't bring himself to make the call. He had no idea if she knew he was actually Spider-Man or not, so that was one thing Tony had to be grateful for, he didn't have to try explain an injury from patrol. But still, that didn't make it any easier to tell her her child was possibly dying. He took his phone out and put it back away, promising himself he would call her as soon as Peter was out of surgery. She wouldn't even be starting to worry until then, if he was lucky. Until then, there was nothing to do but pace. 

~Bruce's POV~ They got the kid through the scan successfully, confirming what he had already known. Poor Peter's appendix was inflamed badly, and it was likely a matter of minutes before it burst. With all the crazy events of the day, Bruce was shocked it hadn't already. Guess that's what happens when they have speed healing, he thought. Immediately, the two leapt into action. They wheeled him into the operating theater and washed up quickly. They changed into fresh scrubs and pulled masks on. Bruce let Strange take lead, as he hadn't been doing too many surgeries when he practiced in Kolkata. They worked quickly, stabilizing Peter. They started the operation, and they had just removed his appendix and were beginning to stitch him back up when they heard a moan. Bruce looked up at the kid's face, and was shocked when he saw brown eyes staring back. 

"Strange," Bruce whispered. "He's awake." 

"Wh-what's going on?" Peter stammered. "Where am I?" Bruce had never been more grateful that they had strapped the kid down. He looked like he was about to panic again, and for good reason. He had just woken up in the middle of his surgery. Banner quickly motioned Strange away, and Strange understood, carefully concealing the bloodied scalpel and pushing away the tray where Peter's now-removed appendix lay. 

"Hey, Pete. How do you feel?" Bruce was careful to keep his tone calm and keep the kid's attention on him. Strange was quietly filling a syringe with more of the sedative, and Bruce knew they could not allow him to panic before he was injected with it. It took a minute for Peter to be able to formulate words.

"I feel weird. It feels like the bottom half of me is missing," Peter mumbled nervously. Bruce surreptitiously took off his gloves and dropped them on the floor, and then he reached to stroke Peter's head gently. This had the dual effect of calming Peter and also preventing him from seeing anything.

"It's not, I promise. You just feel weird because we had to give you some medicine, okay?" Suddenly, Peter stiffened beneath Bruce's hand, and Bruce knew he had said something wrong. The kid was too smart, and Bruce immediately saw Peter's eyes flick around the room. His breathing became labored, and Bruce put his hands on both sides of Peter's head to prevent him from seeing anything else. "Just look at me, okay? It's almost over. You're safe." He hated lying to the kid, especially since he knew Peter didn't believe him anyway. Peter flexed his wrists and found they couldn't move, and then he really began to panic. 

"Get off me! Get these things off me! I can't do this. Dr. Banner, sir, help me! Stop—" He was abruptly cut off as Strange pushed the sedative into his upper arm. He went still, and Bruce slowly lifted his hands off Peter's face.

"I hate seeing him like this, please let's hurry up." 

Strange's face was tight. "I hate it too." He finished the stitches in Peter's abdomen as quickly as he could. He stretched out his hands and wove a healing spell over it, trying to prevent scarring. "He should be okay now, though. I think we should still leave him restrained for now. I'm going to put him on an IV drip, and I don't want him ripping it out as soon as he wakes up." They moved him back to his bed in the medbay and Strange inserted the IV. They then washed their hands and Bruce went out to find Tony. They didn't have to go far. He was standing right outside the medbay, wringing his hands. Steve, Bucky, and Nat stood with him. As soon as the door opened, Tony was inside. He sat down on the chair and took Peter's small, limp hands in his own strong ones, after giving Bruce a look that said "remove these restraints right now or I will kill you." Bruce removed the restraints so Tony could hold his hand.

A few minutes later, May walked in. She pushed Steve and Nat out of the doorframe and strode directly to Peter's bed, high heels clicking. It didn't take a genius to tell she was angry, and for good reason. She pulled Tony Stark right out of his chair and cussed him out in a loud whisper. "What the hell happened to my baby? I get a call from Happy telling me Peter is in surgery, and I fu***** freaked. Why didn't I fu***** know earlier?!" 

"May, I'm sorry, it was so sudden, and—" 

"Don't you 'May' me! He's my child, I would advise you not to forget that, Mr. Stark. Now out!" She pointed harshly, and Tony wisely left. The other avengers all filtered out too, expect for Strange, who had dealt with plenty of overprotective parents in his time as a surgeon. "Oh, Petey, I'm so sorry. Please feel better." She dropped into the chair Tony had vacated and gently took Peter's hands in hers. She sat like that for several minutes, gently talking to him and running gentle hands through his curls. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she held his hand tighter, bending down and putting her head on his chest. 

"May...?" A soft voice inquired. Instantly, May's arms were around him, hugging tight. "Oh, Peter, you're awake. Oh, thank God. I was so worried about you. When I got the call from Happy, all I could think about was you dying and me not being there for you. What happened exactly?"

"I don't know. It's all kind of blurry. I think they said I had appendicitis. May, I was so scared." His voice broke. 

"Oh Petey, you poor kid. It's okay now, I'm here." She continued stroking his hands and his head, trying to reassure him as tears slipped down his face. Suddenly, he stiffened. 

"What's wrong, sweetie?"

"Ne...needle." He choked out, looking at the IV drip in his arm. He pulled his hands out of May's grasp, but Strange was there before he could rip it out. 

"Peter, don't. It's necessary, okay?" He pushed Peter's hands back down to the bed, holding them there until the boy stopped shaking. "That's it, it's alright. I'll take it out tomorrow, I promise. You just need to stay here for one night so I can observe you and make sure there are no problems after the surgery. After that, you'll just have to take it easy for a while, no Spider-Manning for you. I'll take the stitches out in a few days, and if you're careful, you'll be good in no time." 

"I can't do anything?" Peter whined. Strange laughed. "Just for a couple weeks." He settled Peter's hands down completely, and stood up to see May glaring at him. "What did you say about him being Spider-Man?!" "Nothing, ma'am, nothing at all."


End file.
